– One of my pet peeves remains the rather quiet ride that the MSM is giving upcoming congressional pay raises. Congress enacted law that raises their salary automatically indexed for inflation – a COLA (cost of living allowance) increase. I personally don’t believe that they deserve any raise whatsoever, since they are the stewards of this sinking financial ship and all it’s job losses.

Congress oversaw all the housing/banking/financial corruption and dishonesty while sitting back and doing nothing to prevent those abuses. They readily accepted campaign contributions from the same culprits that created this mess and was complicit in ignoring and often willingly assisted the current financial carnage. Let me list a couple ways that congress acted irresponsibly:

Congress blindly wrote checks totalling $350 bn to bailout the same crocked financial institutions and they didn’t even demand any type of financial accountability of how the money was to be used. That $350 bn doesn’t include the $100 bn given to bailout AIG. AFP: US Treasury slammed over handling of financial bailout.

– Congress shouldn’t accept a raise until they perform their duties in a competent manner. Stupidity, ignorance, greed, befriending lobbyists at the expense of constituents, and endless campaigning are not reasons to be receiving pay raises. There are a few honest politicians who take their jobs seriously and are quite capable, but as Henry Kissinger put so aptly, “Ninety percent of politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.”
– Visit DOES CONGRESS DESERVE A PAY RAISE? and voice your opinion by filling out the simple form letter.

– There is some action pressure mounting to stop these automatic raises and let’s hope the voices get louder:

* With Congress under fire for accepting a pay raise while many Americans are getting pink slips, momentum is building to nix the automatic pay hike for 2010.

Angry feedback from constituents could push the issue to a vote this year, according to taxpayer watchdog groups and supporters of legislation introduced in the House last week.

* A wild news day for tech stocks, with Sony posting its first quarterly loss in 14 years and rumors running rampant that Microsoft will start laying off employees after all.

A week or so ago, Microsoft issued a statement saying that the company would avoid layoffs, and would instead focus on cutting back on contractors and not replacing employees who left the company. So much for that, apparently. But we’ll know for sure by January 22, the date of Microsoft’s next earnings call.

There have been a number of web sites reporting planned or executed layoffs at various software firms. Some of the rumored layoffs are supposed to occur at venerable firms like SAP, Oracle, Infor and others.

* Tomb Raider: Underworld’s lackluster performance has left Eidos smarting. Earlier this week, the British publisher revealed that sales of the game, while respectable at 1.5 million units worldwide, failed to live up to the company’s internal expectations. As a result of the lackluster sales, Eidos said it would be trimming its full-year revenue forecast by £20 million ($30.39 million).

The game’s performance has apparently negatively impacted developer Crystal Dynamics. Over the weekend, Joystiq received word that the Redwood City, California-based developer served approximately 30 staffers their walking papers on Friday.

* 9:40 AM — It seems there’s more dire device business news to come from Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT – message board) in 2009. Speculation is mounting that Motorola is set to announce later this week major cost cutting measures, including more layoffs in its struggling handset division.

* NEW YORK, Jan 13 (Reuters) – Motorola Inc (MOT.N) is expected to make steep cost cuts, including more layoffs, at its mobile devices division as a broad slump in demand for cell phones exacerbates its own market share declines.

With even market leader Nokia (NOK1V.HE) warning about weakening phone demand, analysts say Motorola could miss Wall Street’s already low expectations for phone sales in the fourth quarter and the current quarter.

* WASHINGTON (AP) — Retail sales plunged far more than expected in December, a record sixth straight monthly decline as consumers were battered by a recession, a severe credit crisis and soaring job losses, none of which are likely to ease anytime soon.

Mike: Below is another optimistic report from the feds who have to come out with optimistic reports to calm the public. His determination that unemployment won’t reach double digits is one of those rose-colored-glasses scenarios. He fails to say that the unemployment rate is calculated differently than it was in the 1980s as discouraged workers are no longer counted in today’s unemployment figures. As a result, the true unemployment figure today is already greater than 10% as shown in the graph that follows:

Mike: According to Shadow Government Statistics “The SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated “discouraged workers” defined away during the Clinton Administration added to the existing BLS estimates of level U-6 unemployment.” So the following fed statement is false if you are comparing 1980’s and 2000’s unemployment numbers. Why they continue to twist the truth and confuse the matter is something I find disheartening, if not disturbing.

* NEWARK, Del. (AP) — The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia expects the economy to slowly start recovering in the second half of 2009 and inflation to remain below 2 percent over the next year.

In a speech Wednesday at the University of Delaware, Charles Plosser also said that the unemployment rate probably won’t drop anytime soon, but that he doesn’t expect it to rise to double digits, as it did during the recession of the early 1980s.

* Yet another ignominious statistic to close out the nation’s decade of descent. The United States now has 3.8 job seekers for every job vacancy, the U.S. Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics announced Tuesday.

What’s more, the 3.8 job seeker stat in November 2008 is more than double the 1.8 job seekers per job vacancy stat recorded a year ago, in November 2007. The nation had 3.4 job seekers per vacancy in the previous month, October 2008.

* WASHINGTON — After years of record highs, the trade gap has taken a dive. It’s a bit of good news on the surface, but it happened for a bad reason: A severe recession has sharply cut U.S. demand for foreign-made goods.

The deficit for November plunged by 28.7 percent to $40.4 billion, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday. That was the lowest monthly trade gap in five years and a far bigger improvement than economists had been expecting.

The most famous Chinese dissident predicts the Government will be trapped between the angry poor and the powerful rich

Wei Jingsheng

The whole world is suffering from an economic crisis. Some in the West, like a desperate drowning man clutching at a straw, have said the Chinese Government has a lot of money, let us beg them to save us from the crisis. But they do not realise that the Government in Beijing does not know how to save itself.

China has a $2 trillion foreign currency reserve but it also suffers from a huge disparity between the rich and poor: while 0.4 per cent of the people hold 70 per cent of the wealth of the country, a fifth of the population – more than 300 million Chinese – have daily incomes of less than one dollar. This extreme concentration of wealth is a serious problem for the Chinese Government and threatens its grip on power.

* The governor also proposes eliminating the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp and Kansas Inc, which would mean the loss of 21 jobs total in 2010. Those positions would be absorbed by Commerce.

A 14-week, or seven pay period, moratorium on payments into the state employee health plan would free up $23.7 million. Goossen said there is enough money in the health plan fund that suspending the payments would not affect current health benefits of state employees.

A number of tax cuts planned for FY 2010 would be suspended indefinitely.

* SARASOTA COUNTY – School Board members will be asked today to move forward with $31 million in budget cuts, some of which will have a dramatic impact on how students learn in Sarasota classrooms.

The proposals include eliminating 43 data and literacy coaches and cutting the high school block schedule — both core pieces of the district’s Next Generation strategic plan to help keep struggling students from falling behind.

* Los Angeles Unified school board members voted Tuesday to send layoff notices to about 2,300 teachers, although the district superintendent said the move might not lead to layoffs if more money can be found.

Beginning this week, about a third of the teachers who have been with the district for two years or less will receive notice that they could be laid off within two weeks.

* LODI – The Lodi Unified Board of Trustees made its first round of teacher layoffs Tuesday night and heard reports on how district office staff could be reduced mightily in the coming months to help bridge a $20 million budget shortfall and declining enrollment.

With a 7-0 vote, trustees opted to lay off six temporary elementary teacher positions and eliminate 120 percent contracts for high school instructors who work through their daily preparatory periods

* TUSCALOOSA | The Tuscaloosa County Schools notified 71 employees Tuesday that their jobs would be eliminated in two weeks, part of more than $8 million in budget reductions that will be implemented as quickly as possible.

* About 180 longtime St. Paul city workers will be asked to retire voluntarily before the end of the month as Mayor Chris Coleman attempts to reduce costs.

Officials will roll out the plan this morning at a City Council Budget Committee meeting in City Hall.

The administration also will continue its hiring freeze, encourage workers to voluntarily reduce their hours or take unpaid leaves, reduce overtime and freeze the wages of nonunion workers, including Coleman.

* Visalia, CA, USA (KFSN) — Tulare County Supervisors voted to lay off more than two hundred people, and close two clinics. It’s part of the board’s plan to bridge a two-point-four million dollar budget deficit.

Dozens showed up to Tuesdays Board of Supervisors meeting angry that the county couldn’t find another way to save money that didn’t include closing the two clinics. But supervisors hope a local hospital can still provide the same services.

* Nacogdoches, TX (KTRE) – Pilgrim’s Pride has announced that 450 employees will be laid off from the Nacogdoches Plant. Company spokesman Ray Atkinson tells KTRE’s East Texas News that the employees were notified last week. Two-hundred-fifty of the positions are temporary, and roughly 100 have been there less than 90 days. Many of those who will lose their job will be able to find employment in the Lufkin plant. And, according to Atkinson, others will be given the opportunity to work at other plants around Texas.

Mike: An excellent discussion of the Pfizer layoffs can be found at the link below:

* Pfizer’s made an announcement about the dimensions of its research cuts – 5 to 8%, which means about 500 to 800 scientists this year. These are (for the most part, I presume) the “not in our current research areas” people from the company’s recent re-work of their therapeutic areas.

* Pfizer is cutting 556 sales reps in Italy and about 800 researchers across its R&D divisions worldwide. The moves were expected, as Pfizer braces for a round of cuts at the end of January as part of CEO Jeff Kindler’s plan to ax $2 billion from its cost structure. (Read BNET’s back-story on Pfizer’s layoff plans here.)

* GreenFiber LLC announced it is closing its Sacramento, Calif., insulation plant. The company, headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., will service customers in California from its facilities in Salt Lake City, Utah and Phoenix.

* NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — Sunoco Inc. said Tuesday that it will close a polypropylene manufacturing facility in Bayport, Texas, by April 30. The Philadelphia-based petroleum-refining company said its three other polypropylene facilities will assume part of Bayport’s production.

* Anderson business Pre-Employ.com laid off about 10 employees Jan. 1 in positions that were found to be redundant after a business acquisition and internal reorganization, according to Pre-Employ.com C.E.O. Robert Mather.

* SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Server and storage technology company Rackable Systems Inc. said late Tuesday it has reduced its expectations for its financial results for 2008, helping send its shares nearly 10% lower in late trading.

The Cleveland-based bank’s regional president, Tom Spilman, tells The News Tribune hr spoke with the affected employees Tuesday. Spillman says other call center jobs will be available to them in Cleveland or Buffalo, N.Y., and other kinds of jobs may be available in the Puget Sound area

* Officials with the Cajundome announced a 20% deficit reduction plan, that unfortunately calls for the elimination of jobs.

Cajun Dome Director Gregory Davis, tells TV 10 a number of factors, including the national economy and the newly required sales tax is to blame for the one million dollar deficit in their five million dollar budget.

The move is part of part of several the company announced Tuesday in light of current market conditions. They’re also keeping associate salaries flat, reducing compensation for key officers and eliminating non-essential operating expenses.

* Announcements were made Tuesday January 13th that as many as sixteen employees will be getting pink slips. The cuts cross a wide array of services: eight directors of ministries, from hispanic ministries to religious education to social justice and others. In addition eight more part time workers on staff will be axed.

Father Robert Siler is a spokesman for the diocese. Siler says the church’s funds are way off: “We knew that our investment fund had suffered a loss over the last fiscal year and of course the economy has just gotten worse over the last six months,” he says.

* Heil officials said Tuesday it will lay off about 100 people this week at its Fort Payne plant.

Officials said the layoffs are due to cities’ budget cuts and the postponement of some planned capital equipment purchases both nationally and globally. The decision comes as the refuse collection vehicle manufacturer looks to reduce costs.

* POINT TUPPER — Upwards of 40 workers could be laid off as one of the two paper machines at the NewPage mill in Point Tupper shuts down for a week, a union official says. Ronnie Beaton, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Local 972, said that word came from a meeting between the union and NewPage Port Hawkesbury management Tuesday morning. A more precise number of those who will be laid off during the shutdown won’t be known until later in the week, however.

* Gannett Inc., struggling with falling advertising revenue at its newspapers, is making almost all employees, from part-time and hourly workers all the way up to Chief Executive Officer Craig Dubow take one week of unpaid leave this quarter.

* Seagate (STX), which earlier this week pushed out CEO Bill Watkins and announced a 10% cut in its U.S. workforce, this morning disclosed that it will cut its global staff by 2,950 people, or about 6% of its total headcount. The announcement includes the previously announced U.S. job cuts.

* NEW YORK — Employees have been laid off at two newly formed divisions of Random House Inc.

The Crown Publishing Group, where authors include President-elect Barack Obama, and the Knopf Doubleday Group, which publishes Toni Morrison and Anne Rice among others, separately announced a wave of promotions and personnel changes on Wednesday, and confirmed that some employees had been cut.

* Adhesives Research of Springfield Township said it is permanently laying off 45 workers from its main facility near Glen Rock in the first layoff of any kind for the company in more than 30 years.

Prior to the cuts, the company employed about 415 people at the Glen Rock facility and about 515 globally. The permanent layoffs are effective today and the economy is to blame, Adhesives Research said.

* Sleep Innovations Inc. will permanently close its Elkhart plant, resulting in the layoffs of 104 workers, according to a Jan. 12 letter sent by the company to the Indiana Department of Workforce Development.

* More layoffs are rippling through Seattle’s tech community. The latest is Varolii. The Seattle-based software company laid off 8 percent of its staff yesterday.

Spokeswoman Robin Rees said many of the laid-off employees were in finance and administration, an area where Varolii had beefed up after it filed for an initial public offering in Sept. 2007. Varolii withdrew its IPO registration last June.

* SANTA CRUZ – Plantronics will lay off 18 percent of its worldwide work force, cut management salaries and reduce other operating expenses, company officials announced today.

Company officials did not release details about the timing or location of the layoffs.

Company officials said revenue and earnings per share for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 will be lower than originally expected. They had projected net revenues of $205 million to $220 million but now are expecting revenues to be $184 million for the third quarter. Final third-quarter earnings will be announced Jan. 27.

* Rumors have been flying lately and the tip emails won’t stop – now Motorola’s plans to undergo a significant workforce reduction have been confirmed by the Chicago Tribune. When all is said and done this year, Motorola will have laid off approximately 4,000 workers across all divisions. The hardest hit area of the company, as we’re sure you could have guessed, will be the mobile phone division.

About three-fourths of the cuts will come from its mobile devices unit, Schaumburg, Illinois-based Motorola said today in a statement. The reduction follows 3,000 cuts disclosed in October as the declining phone business leached profitability.

* Ecolab Inc., which provides cleaning and pest-control services, said Wednesday it will cut 4 percent of its work force in a restructuring move, but backed its prior 2008 profit outlook.

The company expects to cut 1,000 positions, or 4 percent of staff, while taking other cost cutting measures. It expects a charge during the fourth quarter of about $19 million and between $65 million and $75 million in 2009. But the company expects the move to eventually save it between $70 million and $80 million annually.

* Jan. 14 (Bloomberg) — General Electric Co., the world’s biggest jet-engine maker, plans to eliminate more than 1,000 salaried jobs at its GE Aviation division as orders slow and it integrates the acquisition of Smiths Group Plc’s aerospace unit.

* LONDON (AFP) — British banking giant Barclays is to cut over 2,000 jobs in its retail and commercial businesses, it said Wednesday, a day after announcing a similar number of job losses in its investment divisions.

* Merrill Lynch and Bank of America, its new owner, are planning to slash nearly 1,900 jobs in London, a move which would represent one of largest single layoffs in the history of the City, according to a report in The Times, London.

* The ConMet plant in Canton announced today it could be laying off as many as 80 workers. Employees say they were told of the coming layoffs in a meeting, but they still don’t know exactly how many there will be, or who they will affect.

* Jiangsu-based photovoltaic cell and module manufacturer Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE:STP) CEO and chairman Dr. Zhengrong Shi said on Monday night that the company has cut 800 employees, about 10% of its staff, reports China Business News in a follow-up to rumors that the company was laying off 4,000 employees between October and January.

* LIMA, Peru (AP) — A Peruvian labor federation says 5,460 mining and steel workers have lost their jobs since the start of November as sinking global mineral prices hammer the mining sector and stall new investments.

* Dutch bank Van Lanschot (VLAN.AS) will cut salaries of its employees by up to 10 percent and lay off a few dozen people to reduce costs and cope with the economic slowdown, the company said on Wednesday.

* Tens of thousands of public sector jobs will be lost across Britain this year as councils struggle to cope with the impact of the recession.

Forty councils approached by The Times yesterday were planning a total of 7,000 redundancies, and unions fear that few of the 442 local authorities across England, Scotland and Wales will escape the cutbacks. Although most of the job losses will be among backroom staff, there is concern that services will be affected.

* At a time when jobs are scarce, there is at least one employer who is recruiting: the federal government.

The local office of the 2010 Census is looking to fill some 1,300 temporary positions in the next few months to help count the residents of San Diego County. The government especially is looking for bilingual applicants for jobs that range from office administrators and recruiters to workers who actually go house to house.

* The long-awaited return promises to bring a couple hundred jobs at a crucial time for the local economy. House of Blues is holding a job fair from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. today and on Wednesday at Fenway Park’s Absolut Clubhouse, around the corner on Brookline Avenue.

Robert Simeone, a senior vice president of operations with Live Nation Inc.’s House of Blues chain, said the company has already filled about 20 management positions and is looking to fill another 200 nonmanagement positions, such as food servers, door hosts, retail workers and bartenders

Mike: The layoff announcements picked up steam later this day and culminated with the layoff of 4000 Motorola. I’ll post any significant news this evening, but hopefully all is relatively quiet and tomorrow brings a little relief. On that note I leave you with a couple laughs……………..